Moments after calling Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, ‘insensitive to a lot of black people,’ presidential candidate Herman Cain defended his characterization of black voters’ support for Democrats and criticized President Obama’s speech at a recent Congressional Black Caucus rally.
Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday asked Cain if he stood by his characterization of black voters as “brainwashed” into supporting Democrats against Republicans. Cain denied that the word was “insensitive” before attacking Obama:
Cain isn’t the only black politician who found President Obama’s CBC speech irritating. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said that she considered the speech – in which President Obama asked for Biblical-style faith in his agenda and told the CBC to “stop complaining” – “a bit curious” and that Obama used langauge that was “not appropriate.”
Cain added that he’d encountered black voters who refused to accept his campaign literature because I’m that conservative, I’m that Republican.” And then he doubled down on the “brainwashed” langauge. “I call that being brainwashed,” he said. “How can they make up their mind about something if they don’t even know what it is?”
The exchange marked the second time in the interview that Cain described a presidential rival as “insensitive” with respect to a racial issue. Cain said that Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, was “insensitive to a lot of black people” when he reportedly attended a hunting camp named with a racially-charged slur.
